Biker
by Yazzy
Summary: Rei likes Kai. Kai likes Rei. Kai gets a motorbike, Rei gets angry. Will they confess their feelings before it's too late?


This is an AU- all the bladebreakers are 20, living together in a house, and Rei is Lee's cousin (Lee is dead before the story begins). Max and Tyson are dating, and Rei and Kai really like each other, and they know they both feel the same way, but they've just never gotten together. Will it be too late by the time they're prepared to admit their feelings?

* * *

"Kai...what is -that-?" Asked Tyson incredulously. Kai patted the solid hulk of metal next to him and smiled, fingers tracing over the 'Kawasaki' emblazoned across the glaringly red side. 

"It's a motorbike. What does it look like?"

"But..." Kenny muttered. "You don't have a license..."

"I do. Remember when I went back over to Russia for a few months after my birthday? Well I had some lessons. I'm legally allowed to drive a bike in any country!" Tyson gaped at him for a second, then grinned.

"Cool! You have to let me take a trip out on it some time!"

It was at that point that Rei appeared, carrying a bag of groceries. "Kai? Is that yours?" He asked suspiciously. Kai smiled.

"Yeah. Nice, isn't it?" Rei glared.

"No, it's not, and if you had any sense you'd take it back to wherever you got it from." Rei snapped, stalking past them and slamming into the house they shared. Kai shrugged, then got back on the bike and pushed it round the side of the house, into the garage.

However, as Kai found out, much to his dismay, the garage leaked. This led to him having to store the bike in the living room, where Rei night after night glared at it. After a while Kai just couldn't stand it any more. "Rei, what exactly is your problem with my bike?"

"Have you any idea how dangerous they are?"

"What? Rei, I can handle the bike fine!"

"That's what Lee said!"

"Who's Lee?" Rei curled up on his sofa cushion, tears filling his eyes. "Stop being so wet. There's no point making things up just to-"

"He's my cousin. Or he was before he got himself KILLED!" Rei stood up and stormed out. Kai watched him go, blinking.

"He had a cousin?" Tyson shrugged. "I feel like a total bastard now..."

* * *

"Rei?" Rei looked up at Kai and then looked down again, at the photo album he was holding. "Rei...I didn't know..." 

"I never told you."

"Was he...young?"

"He was twenty. He was the same age as we are now. He died...about two years ago." Rei pulled a picture out of the album and held it out as Kai sat down next to him on the bed. The picture was of a short, stocky man, leaning against a bright yellow bike and grinning, giving the person holding the camera the thumbs up. He had long hair, although not as long as Rei's, tied back in a ponytail. "He was racing with...someone, and..." Rei bit his lip and closed his eyes. "He got hit...by a lorry." Kai bit back a laugh. Somehow it sounded funny, the way Rei just said 'lorry'.

"A lorry?"

"Yes, a lorry!" Rei hissed, rising up and gripping Kai by the neck. "And if you dare laugh I'll KILL you, do you understand? You wouldn't be thinking it was funny if you ended up battered to death, lying stuck under your precious bike!" He pushed Kai back, off the bed. Kai landed on his back with a cry and scrambled up again. "Rei, I didn't mean-"

"Just get out, Kai. But if you kill yourself on that stupid machine don't expect me to come to your funeral!" He yelled, so loudly it hurt his throat. Kai didn't leave.

"Rei, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be... It's just the way you said it-"

"GET OUT!" Rei leapt up, screaming. Kai backed away, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Two days later he tried to apologize again. Rei told him in very colourful language to get out of his room and never come back. When he walked out of the Chinese's room Tyson was standing leaning against the wall, making out with Max enthusiastically. "Get a room!" Snapped Kai. Tyson shrugged. 

"Just 'cause you always hack off the guy you fancy." With a snort, Kai stormed down the stairs.

"I'm going out for a ride. Screw the lot of you."

After spending ten minutes wrestling his bike out of the house and getting his helmet and leather jacket on, Kai took one look back at the house. Rei was watching him out of the window, eyes fixed and unblinking. Kai stared back at him for a second then turned the key in the ignition and swung himself onto the bike, roaring away.

* * *

About half an hour after Kai had gone, Rei sat on his bed looking at the photograph of Lee for a while. He'd kept it by his bedside since he'd shown Kai it. His eyes travelled over Lee's handsome, smiling features and he sighed. "Lee...I loved you like a brother...why did you have to leave me? It wasn't as if you couldn't control your bike... And now Kai has one, and he doesn't even know how to ride one properly...or at least not like you used to be able to...I just think he'll end up getting hurt...I can feel it..." He heard the phone ring and ignored it. Tyson came into his room a few minutes later and Rei knew. Heart-stoppingly, maddeningly, he knew. "Kai..." 

"He hit another bike. He's...he's in hospital..."

"That idiot BASTARD!" Growled Rei. "Where's the car keys?" Tyson dug in his pocket and held them out. Rei snatched them and stalked past him. "Are you coming?" Tyson nodded, still not quite comprehending the situation. "Are Max and Kenny still out?" Tyson nodded. "Right. Well then. Is it the general hospital?" Another nod as Rei thundered down the stairs two at a time and wrenched the front door open, pulling Tyson out and locking it.

On the way to the hospital he muttered to himself angrily, sounding like a total nutter. When they got there he marched up to reception, letting Tyson follow in his wake. "Kai Hiwatari. We're not relatives, but he doesn't have any anyway, so we count. Where is he?" The receptionist took exception to his tone and sniffed, turning and ignoring him. Rei almost exploded. "Don't you -dare- turn away from me! Tell me where he is right now or I will make a scene and you will end up fired!" The young girl looked at him snootily.

"We don't tolerate threats." Rei growled, then pasted a look of misery on his face.

"Please, I need to see him! I need to see him, he's my boyfriend! Is it because I'm gay or something? Please don't do this to me, I have to know if he's okay!" He wailed, sobbing fakely. All the people in the reception started looking over and shaking their heads, until one woman shouted. "You let him see his man, girl! You shouldn't have prejudices like that!" The receptionist blushed and quickly typed something into her computer.

"He's through in the A&E. Just...go through that door." Rei sneered at her and walked through the doors. They found Kai surrounded by nurses injecting him and pressing fingers to his neck. Rei stormed to his bedside and loomed over him. Kai looked up at him with unfocused eyes. "Rei?" He asked weakly. Rei burst into angry tears and grabbed Kai's hand.

"How could you do this to me!" He demanded. "How could you, Kai? Don't you DARE die, because I'll hate you if you do!"

"I'm sorry...but it's pretty bad, Rei...hurts like hell..."

"You dare! You just dare! I said I wouldn't come to your funeral and I meant it!" Rei cried, voice shrill with anger and worry. A nurse pulled him away and started to tend to one of the hideous gashes on Kai's chest. Rei saw with satisfaction that they had cut off his leather jacket, splitting it up the side.

Kai groaned loudly as one of the nurses started picking the gravel out of his cuts with tweezers. "Rei...I'm sorry...bye..." He said quietly. Rei watched them push Kai's bed away, towards one of the large lifts. He heard someone mutter 'Get him to theatre' and cried even louder. It was just like Lee, all over again. Tyson touched his shoulder and a nurse took hold of his arm. "I heard you yelling in reception...is he really your boyfriend?" She asked, guiding him and Tyson into what must have been some kind of waiting room.

"No...but...I wanted him to be...and he wanted to be...but that stupid BIKE-!"

"Hey, hey, calm down! The doctors are doing everything they can. Is there someone you could phone? An actual relative of his, perhaps?"

"All his biological family are dead." Put in Tyson. "Is it...bad? Will he be okay?"

"I really can't say. He's in theatre now, and they'll see if they can do anything, but...as far as we can tell he crashed into another bike and he...hit a wall...at about ninety miles an hour. He was wearing a helmet and leather jacket, and jeans, but..." Tyson shook his head and took his mobile out of his pocket. "You'll have to go outside the hospital to use that- they interfere with the monitors." Tyson nodded.

"I'm gonna call Max and Kenny." He and the nurse left. Rei sat down on the lumpy sofa, mind a mess of Lee's final moments and Kai's current situation.

His fingers picked absently at the cushions as he waited for Tyson to get back. It felt like an eternity. He didn't even notice when Tyson came back and sat beside him. "Are you okay?" Rei jumped and looked at him as if seeing him for the first time.

"I...I can't...I can't stand waiting...we had to wait for Lee...and he was...w-was..." He looked at Tyson, eyes wild. "I don't want him to die! How could he do this to me? I told him! I warned him! Isn't it enough for one person I love to cash out on me? We could have been happy! I would have gone out with him- I would have -married- him if it was legal!" Tyson pulled him into a hug as he sobbed, trying to make sense of his feelings. "I used to have a motorbike. A fireblade. I used to ride it all the time, but after Lee...I sold it. I never wanted to see another bike again! And now another one's gone and ruined my life!"

And so they waited. They waited, and waited and waited, until Rei ended up crying himself to sleep and Tyson fell asleep alongside him.

* * *

"Um, sir?" Rei snapped awake. 

"Kai." He mumbled. It was about Kai. Kai was fine. Kai was going to live and they could all go home and they'd get rid of the bike and he'd tell Kai just how much he loved him and-

"Yes, it's about Mr. Hiwatari. I'm sorry, but..." Rei's eyes went wide and he sat up, jabbing Tyson sharply with his elbow as he struggled up. "We did everything we could, but his injuries were too severe...he had massive internal bleeding, and he had a heart attack-"

"No!" Rei burst out. "He-he can't be dead!"

"I'm afraid he is, sir." Tyson sat up with Rei still half sprawled across him.

"Kai's...dead?" Rei turned and slapped Tyson across the face, making him yelp with pain.

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare say it! He can't be dead! He can't be dead! He-he can't! Not him as well!"

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm so sorry."

"I told him I'd hate him if he died...I don't hate him!" Rei said frantically. "He can't be dead!"

"Oh Rei..." Tyson stood up, trying to get Rei to stand too, but Rei fell to his knees, shaking.

"No...he can't be dead...he can't...he can't be dead..." He whispered, like a mantra that could bring Kai back.

* * *

"Rei?" Tyson appeared at the door of Rei's room, fiddling with his tie. "Are you ready?" Rei looked up at him wordlessly, face a mask of tears. He shook his head once and fell back onto his bed, sobbing. "Rei?" Rei shook his head and cried a little harder. 

"I said I wasn't going to go...I told him I hated him! Why did I say that? I don't hate him...I don't h-hate him!" Wailed the Chinese. Tyson took hold of his hands and pulled him up onto his feet, guiding him down the stairs and to the limo.

The funeral was...heart-breaking. No-one could really concentrate on the service for the sound of Rei sobbing brokenly at the front of the church, supported by Tyson and Kenny. Even afterwards Rei was so distressed that he had to be taken home. It didn't make much of a difference. He still spent the next few hours in a haze of pain and heartache, cursing bikes, cursing roads, cursing God and all manner of other things, as if any one of them was to blame.

* * *

It was because of that that Tyson and Max were surprised when, about a fortnight later, Rei pulled up on the front drive with a shining new bike, a black and green monstrosity that roared like an angered tiger. "Rei...what-? Why-?" Rei stared at him for a second then smiled. He walked into the house, leaving Tyson and Max to stare after him. They stood there for perhaps ten minutes, then Rei came back out, without leathers or helmet. He hopped up onto the still-running bike and smiled over his shoulder. 

"Rei...you need a helmet..." Rei shook his head.

"Goodbye." He said hoarsely. "If you're washing up later, there's some cups in my room. I'm just going out for a while...don't worry..." It was the most he'd said since the funeral. Tyson eyed him suspiciously.

"Be careful." Rei nodded and flicked the stand up, revving the engine and then pulling away, hair flying out behind him. He pulled out of the drive and shot up the road, gathering speed. As he reached the end he yanked the bike's front end up into a spectacular wheelie and then was gone.

* * *

"Hey Max, if you're going upstairs, bring all the cups down! Don't forget the ones in Rei's room!" 

"Yeah, whatever!" Tyson turned his gaze back to the TV, then heard the sound of glass shattering from upstairs.

"Max? Are you alright?"

"Tyson..." Max practically leapt down the stairs. "Tyson...Rei...he's-he's-" He held out a piece of paper to Tyson, who took it doubtfully and read:

_Hey guys,_

_I'm sorry, but I can't keep living like this. I can't forgive myself for saying that I hated Kai. So I bought myself the bike. It's a fireblade, like the one I used to have- I got it sprayed the same colours and everything. See, what I didn't tell you about before, is that I was with Lee when he died. And it could just have easily been me dead and him alive. We were just having a laugh, and then the lorry just appeared, and it was sheer luck that I swerved out of the way. It was like a nightmare...and he ended up stuck underneath his Suzuki...he loved that bike so much and yet in the end it killed him..._

_But Kai...I loved Kai. Still love him. That's why I've decided to do this. By the time you read this I'll probably be dead, but I don't want you to get upset or anything because I'm going to be with Kai. You know how bad I've been, and I just can't stand this guilt any more. I hope you can forgive me for being so selfish, but I can't stay. Not any more._

_I just wanted to tell you guys that...I really appreciate all the things you've done for me this past month. Maybe when you guys are older gay marriages will be legal and you can walk down the aisle together hand in hand, but that's never going to happen while I'm alive, so congratulations if it ever does. I'll miss you, but don't be upset about me because I'm going how I want, to be with who I want. Maybe, even as you're reading this, I'm turning corners at over a ton (hundred miles an hour) like I used to. You never would have guessed I was a petrol head, would you? But maybe right now I'm going round corners at insane speeds, and on one of them I'm going to lose control, and I'm going to die, just like Lee, just like Kai. Bikes took away the people I loved and they'll take me too. Hey, who knows? While you're reading this I might already be dead._

_Anyway, what I want to say is, thanks, goodbye, and good luck with whatever you do for the rest of your lives._

_Rei_

"Petrol head?"

"Likes cars and bikes and stuff..." Supplied Tyson, looking down at the note in horror. "Oh God...we should have stopped him..."

"He would have gone anyway..."

* * *

Miles away, Rei forced his bike round a corner at a dizzying speed. He twisted the handlebars viciously and the bike swung, losing control. Rei watched the solid rock hurtling towards him and smiled. He could be with Kai now...he could say he was sorry... He closed his eyes, felt a crippling pain, and then... 

"Rei?"

With a feeling of being sucked out of his skin Rei sat up, leaving his body behind him. He looked up into a ghostly pair of wine-coloured eyes and sighed. "Kai...I love you. I don't hate you."

"I know. I love you too. But...Rei...why did you-?" Asked Kai, pulling Rei to his feet and gesturing around at the scene they were standing in the middle of. Rei looked down at his bleeding, broken body and shrugged. "I had to be with you. And I couldn't think of a better way."

"You've ruined the paint job, kid."

"Lee!" Rei turned and flung his arms around his cousin's pearly, translucent neck. "Oh Lee I've missed you..."

"I've missed you too, but I didn't expect you to go hurling yourself into walls to see me...or was it him you came for?"

"Both!" Rei cried. He took hold of both Lee and Kai as the first police cars appeared at the scene, determined to watch the gruesome spectacle all the way through. Before very long, Max, Tyson and Kenny appeared. Rei drifted over to stand beside them as they cried, and listened in on their conversation.

* * *

"He...He's gone..." Kenny choked. Tyson nodded dumbly, watching as the wrecked bike was picked up and wheeled away, leaving them with a clear view of Rei's mangled leg, to follow the rest of his mangled body. "He...He wanted it to be like this...he's with Kai...he's..." Max attempted. 

"But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt..." Whispered Tyson sadly. "You think he's watching?"

"W-What?"

"My Gramps always told me...when a person dies they'll watch over the people they care about for a while. D'you think we meant that much to him?"

* * *

"Of course you did!" Gasped Rei, shocked. Lee shrugged. 

"They can't hear you." He said lightly. Kai took hold of Rei's hand and squeezed it gently.

"Do you want to go riding again?"

"Huh?"

Kai pointed to somewhere behind Rei. He turned and gasped. Kai was pointing a few metres down the road, where three bikes shimmered hazily; A red Kawasaki, a yellow Suzuki, and a green and black Honda Fireblade. "How about you teach me some moves, petrol head?" Rei smiled up at Kai, then nodded to Lee.

"Come on then."

* * *

For many years after that, there were sightings of ghosts on that stretch of road; three bikers, who sped up and down the road like the wind itself, faster than lightning.

* * *

"Tyson Granger? Do you take this man to be your partner?" 

"I do."

"And do you, Max Tate, take this man to be your partner?"

"I do."

"Then I pronounce you legally married!"

Tyson grinned and drew Max into a passionate kiss, rousing catcalls and wolf-whistles from their assembled friends and relatives. As they walked out of the registry office and got into the wedding car, Max sighed. "What's up, Mr. Tate-Granger?"

"Oh, nothing...I was just thinking about Kai and Rei, that's all."

The car sped down the road, towards a country lane. "Wasn't it near here that...you know-?" Max nodded, and Tyson laid an arm around his shoulders. "Remember that letter? 'Congratulations if you ever do'?" He smiled. "It's nice to know he thought it would happen, isn't it Maxie?"

"Yeah." Max paused suddenly and looked out of the window. Tyson followed his gaze.

"Is that-?" The green and black shadow disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and from somewhere seemingly in the distance, there was the roar of a motorbike engine.

Fin

* * *

Just a note: in this fic I made biking out to be a totally dangerous pastime, but if you're not a nutter then it's perfectly safe- I go on my Dad's bike with him sometimes, and it isn't life-threatening at all, but he knows a couple of people who've been killed on bikes, total petrol heads (see above for a definition if you don't understand), who loved their bikes but just pushed them that little bit too hard or got taken by surprise by other traffic. This is sort of a tribute to them- they might have been crazy, but God they were brave. 

The scene with the wedding is a few years after the rest of the fic, and at that point gay marriages are legal, because I said so! Rubbish excuse, but meh.

Oh, and for anyone who doesn't know anything about bikes, Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki are all big bike brands, and a Fireblade is a make of Honda. Hope you enjoyed the fic, and I'd like to know what you thought of it- the review button is just down there! One last thing: this is a oneshot. It might end up with a sequel somewhere along the line, but no more chapters in this fic. Sorry!

In case anyone got confused, I posted this about ten minutes ago but then the title went all whacked out and wouldn't sort itself so I removed it and reposted it with a different name. It was originally called 'Kai's Bike'.


End file.
